Sinopsis
Ours is a very young profession: when the first edition of the Instrument Engineers’ Handbook (IEH) came out, Marks’ Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook was in its fifth edition, and Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook was in its sixth! Now, as we are starting to work on the fourth edition of the IEH, we are already in a new millenium. But while our profession is young, we are also unique and special.
After all, no other engineering profession can claim what we can! No other engineering profession can offer to increase the GDP by $50 billion without building a single new plant, and to do that while increasing safety and reducing pollution. We can do that! We can achieve that goal solely through the optimization of our existing industries. We can increase productivity without using a single pound of additional raw material, without needing a single additional BTU. THIS FOURTH EDITION
During the nearly four decades of its existence, the IEH has become the most widely used reference source of the instrumentation and control (I&C) engineering profession. During this same period, the tools of our I&C profession have changed as control systems were transformed from the early mechanical and pneumatic ones to today’s electronic and digital implementations.
During this period, even the name of our profession has changed. Today, some call it automation, while others refer to it by a variety of other names, including instrumentation, process control, I&C, and computer automation. Yet, while we have not been able to agree even on the name of our profession, our experience and our knowledge of control principles has penetrated all the fields of modern science and technology. I hope that the three volumes of the IEH have played a major role in spreading this knowledge and understanding.
In 1968, this handbook started out as a three-volume reference set, and, in that respect, no change has occurred. The first volume deals with measurement, the second with control, and the third with digital networks and software systems.
In this, the first volume, a chapter is devoted to each major measured variable, and a subchapter (section) is devoted to each different method of making that measurement. Some measurements are relatively simple as, for example, the detection of level; therefore, that chapter has only 21 sections. Others, such as analysis, are more varied, and that chapter has 66 sections.
The individual sections (subchapters) begin with a flowsheet symbol and a feature summary. This summary provides quick access to specific information on the available sizes, costs, suppliers, ranges, and inaccuracies of the devices covered in that section.
This fourth edition updates the information content of the previously published sections, incorporates the new developments of the last decade by the addition of new sections, and broadens the horizons of the work from an American to a global perspective.
In this first volume, Process Measurement and Analysis, the emphasis is on measurement hardware, including the detection of flow, level, temperature, pressure, density, viscosity, weight, composition, and safety sensors.
The second volume of this set, Process Control, covers control hardware, including transmitters, controllers, control valves, and displays, and it provides in-depth coverage to the theory of control and explains how the unit processes of pumping, distillation, chemical reaction, heat transfer, and many others are controlled.
The third volume is devoted to Process Software and Digital Networks. In combination, the three volumes cover all the topics used by process control or instrument engineers.
Content
- General Considerations
- Flow Measurement
- Level Measurement
- Temperature Measurement
- Pressure Measurement
- Density Measurement
- Safety and Miscellaneous Sensors
- Analytical Instrumentation
- Appendix